[Ambivalence--a key concept in gerontology? Elements of heuristics exemplified by identity formation in old age].

Ambivalence is a widely used concept in gerontology, mostly used in the common sense meaning. We propose that an elaborated notion based on the historical and systematic analysis, reveals important theoretical, methodological and practical potentials of the idea of ambivalence for the study of aging. We exemplify this view by proposing a heuristic perspective for the analysis of processes to constitute and reconstitute identities in old age using a model based on a multidimensional understanding of ambivalence. Ambivalence is defined as referring to the experiences of vacillating between polar contradictions of feeling, thinking, wanting and social structures in the search for the sense and meaning of social relationships, facts and texts, which are important for unfolding and altering facets of the self and agency.